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Make sure you have a free weekend before starting this.

I first played this game in my teens on christmas day some years ago. I remember hiding up in my room and being glued to the tv for hours, forgetting even about chocolate.

The story is fantastic, I won't reveal too much of it for fear of spoilers, but needless to say it will keep you hooked.

The graphics are, now, beginning to become fairly outdated. The FMV sequences are still impressive, but the general graphics are definitely showing their age.

The soundtrack is definitely not showing it's age, and is as fresh now as it ever was. Done orchestrally by Nobuo Omeatsu (spelling very probably not completely correct),

The gameplay has not ages a bit, and is as fresh, clean, simple, and superb as it was then the game was released. The ideas being simple to learn, but difficult to master, this leads to a level of playability which is only dreamlike for other, lesser, games.

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Honestly you will love this game and you will also save money on it too!

I love this game so so much. It has been the recipient of my affection for the past 10 years or so. No matter how hard i've tried to move onto other games somehow I always find myself returning to this game. With an emotional enriched story of love, rebellion and peace there is no way whatsoever that you cannot enjoy this game. To this day I still believe these are better than the current final fantasy instalments recently released. I urge Square Enix to return to the mindset which led to the conception of this game.

The story is seen through the eyes of Tidus, a teenager who has been recently marooned in the world of Spira. Through him you encounter the intense and gripping storyline of Sin, its destruction as well as the ultimate destroying of it. You are joined along with a variety of characters with various abilities/roles ranging from warrior, thief, summoner and mage.

Despite this game being over 10 years old it will still astound you with its graphics due to the amazing cutscenes, facial detail and animations. This game is also the first to have voiceovers and so will enhance your comprehension of the story as well as the characters. It has also spawned a successful sequel Final Fantasy x-2 which I am sure you will love just as much too.

Although this game has recently had a HD remaster I would not waste your money on that as simply buying this will be good enough. You still get every aspect that makes it one of the best games ever made. So don't waste your money on the remaster as it is almost identical to its 2002 counterpart.

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A brilliant game for anyone who loves Final Fantasy, or RPGs in general!

Final Fantasy X is one of the more serious games in the FF series. The storyline follows Tidus, a Blitzball player from Zanarkand. During a Blitzball game, he is transported to a place he knows nothing of- a place that is very different from his own home.

Tidus joins a summoner and her guardians on a pilgrimage to defeat Sin- the Big Bad of this game. Gradually getting to understand his new surroundings, he goes on a spiritual journey himself, coming to understand as much about his family and himself as his new friends.

This game is beautiful- the designs of the characters and scenery are just amazing. The storyline is brilliant, and can be a real tear-jerker at times.

If you're a fan of Final Fantasy games and haven't played this before, why?! The characters are well developed, the voice acting (on the whole) works really well, and it's a mix of comedy and tragedy. All of the characters have some sort of flaw, which makes them all the more endearing. And the music. Oh, the music! Some of Nobuo Uematsu's best work! Not one but two vocal tracks- Otherworld, an English language track which is sort of rocky and really fits into the beginning of the game, and Suteki Da Ne, which is a beautiful Japanese ballad recorded by the singer RIKKI. And that's just two tracks- the soundtrack runs on four CDs, which shows you just how many pieces of music there are in this game. Yes, a lot are different variations of the same music, but that just adds to the charm. I honestly don't think there is a dud track on this game at all.

Although the new HD version is due to be released soon, I highly recommend this game to anyone who has access to a PS2, as I'm not sure how different the new version will be- although anyone American who didn't have access to the Dark Aeons should probably go for the HD version, because I've heard (although don't hold me to this) that they'll be in the HD version for everyone.

Overall, one of the best Final Fantasy games in my opinion- although I don't really dislike any of them.

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An awesome game, brilliant gameplay and great story!

NTRODUCTIONOn Wednesday 25th December 2003 I finally received a Playstation 2 and the game that all of my friends were talking about. Final Fantasy X. On looking at the screenshot on the front of the case I knew that this was something special. I have always been a fan of the Final Fantasy games even from their humble days as games on the original Nintendo.

And from the recent array of Final Fantasy games on the Playstation I had a good idea of what to expect. But after just the first hour of play I was astounded. The game didn't just live up to my expectations, it surpassed them in every possible way. Everything about this game was outstanding from the off.

STORY 10/10The story is very similar to previous Final Fantasy games. Normal guy has to save the world from seemingly unstoppable evil. However the complex plot that unfolds throughout the game make it a very memorable experience The plot revolves around a pro blitzball player named Tidus, a hot headed but decent guy who also happens to be the most celebrated blitzball player anywhere. During one of his games in the futuristic city of Zanarkand however a gigantic blob named "sin" comes out of the ocean and destroys the city. Along with his mysterious friend Auron, Tidus is absorbed into sin and thrust 1000 years into the future. In this strange new world called Spira Sin is still around and thanks to its frequent rampages the previously technological world has been set back many years. Tidus then meets the summoner Yuna (who summons creatures called aeons) and her Guardians Wakka, Lulu, and Kimahri. Later on in the story, Auron comes back onto the scene along with the Al-Bhed explorer Rikku. Together they aim to defeat Sin once and for all to save the land of Spira.Another great part in this game is the way that the characters have been created, each with their own personalities. You feel for the characters in this game. You can feel their emotions and you share them. If they cry you feel like crying. If they laugh out loud you feel like doing just the same. Not only do the characters feel real, they look real. You want them to win. You want them to survive. Moreover the characters themselves are great creations. Unlike the characters in Final Fantasy IX, you feel that you can relate somewhat to the predicaments that they find themselves in. This makes you care for them a lot more than in previous games.

GRAPHICS 10/10The graphics in this game are superb. Never before has a video game reached this kind of detail. In characters and background of the level alike. Released from the blockheaded characters of previous RPGs this game provides you with well proportioned characters that move just like you would expect real people to move. Not only that but the characters have actual facial expressions that show their emotions. Without the characters saying a word you can tell what their feeling. It is all in their looks. Also the characters look the same in battle scenes as they do in the adventuring sequences. This is a big improvement to older Final Fantasy games where it looked as though there were different people wearing their clothes. The background visuals are just as impressive with them looking for the most part very realistic. Often enemies can just run onto the screen without it fading out and you simply battle there and then. This makes it a lot more exiting than the battles in previous Final Fantasies. The fiends that you fight in this game also look a lot better than in previous games and are a lot more detailed.The FMV clips throughout the game almost look as if they were taken from the Final Fantasy "The Spirits Within" movie. They really do look that good. The FMV sequences and the ingame graphics look so good that it sometimes becomes hard to see when FMV footage begins and ends. The whole world of Spira just looks and feels alive.

SOUNDTRACK 10/10The sound in the game is better than in any Final Fantasy game I have ever seen. It creates atmosphere in the game that is hard to find in any other title available. The only incident where the music compares to that of Final Fantasy X has to be the Resident Evil series. But instead of creating a feeling of horror and despair you'll often find that the music changes along with the mood of the characters. Possibly my favourite track is right at the start when Tidus is introduced in Zanarkand playing in a Blitzball game. The techno music that is played here emphasises the technological world where Tidus lives and gives you a superb taster of the visual and audio experiences to come later in the game.

Possibly one downside is the questionable quality of the voice acting, but it's only a minor annoyance.

GAMEPLAY 10/10Despite the awe-inspiring visual and sound quality of the game the best feature is possibly the new method of character advancement that has been introduced in this instalment of the series. Gone are character levels and experience points and in its place is the extensive sphere grid. Each of the main characters in the game has his or hers own path on the grid and move along it to gain new abilities and to increase their attributes (strength, magic power etc). Although at the start your path may seem very limited, after a couple of hours playing the game you'll find that you are able to progress into other areas of the grid. This makes for very versatile characters that can learn everything. This however takes an extremely long time and is unnecessary apart from a couple of side quests. You are far better off strategically planning your route around the grid so that all of your characters have a varied range of abilities along with different strengths and weaknesses. This idea should appeal to all Final Fantasy veterans as it allows you to personally customise your characters to suit your needs.

BATTLE 10/10Battling in this game is great. A million times better than in all the other final fantasy games put together. The battle scenes often flow seamlessly from the ingame graphics and the monsters are superbly well crafted. Characters can now be changed in battle which is a welcome addition at the start of the game when they all have different strengths. The summons of the game (now called aeons) also have a much bigger role n the game than they did previously. When summoned they now act as proper characters and can learn new techniques. You can then dismiss then when you want. Also they have their own overdrive (limit break) attacks that are usually devastating. Incidentally they are much better thought out in this game with you partaking in their execution instead of simply selecting them. In essence the battles in this game are better than in any other RPG available.

SIDE QUESTS 10/10Another absolutely great part of this game is the different side quests it has to offer. These can all last a very long time and are fiendishly difficult. The game can have you capturing monsters to breed rarities in a monster arena, which can actually take 10 hours plus. There are various chocobo races to partake in and secret aeons to collect. Then there are butterflies to chase and 200 lightning bolts to dodge in a row (which took me many numbers of hours to complete) without missing a single one. However the biggest minigame, if it can actually be called that, is blitzball. A cross between rugby and water polo, it is a fast moving and brutal sport played by the many peoples of Spira. Rather than just letting it be a game that exists in the background of the game they have incorporated it fully into the game and it is just about the biggest game-within-a-game ever created. It has its own tournaments and leagues and the lives of all the inhabitants seem to revolve around the game. By winning multiple games you can get powerful overdrives and weapons for Wakka to use in battle. Blitzball is so well created and so detailed that with a little polish it could be sold as a full price game.

REPLAYABILITY 10/10If you want 2 complete the game then it takes around 40-50 hours to complete. If however you want to get absolutely everything out of this game and doing everything that this game has to offer, then your looking at about 250+ hours. This game will not do any good to your social life, however good it is. There is so much to do in this game that if you like RPGs you'll never get bored of it, and will play it over and over again.

CONCLUSIONI really can't find anything wrong with this game and so I can only possibly give it 10/10.

Buy it.Why wouldn't you?

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As the first in the FF series to be release on PS2, and to use voice acting instead of subtitles, much was to be expected of FFX. But did it hold up to it's original expectations? Well, opinion seems to be quite divided on this one.

Final Fantasy X at the time seemed nothing like it's predecessors; but since more games have been released, even further away from the 'FF benchmark', FFX doesn't seem so different from it's earlier counterparts anymore. It follows a fairly likeable bunch of characters who, unsurprisingly, are attempting to save the world. The storyline, without giving too much away, is intriguing, but not unexpected. The battle system is inventive but the spheregrid can be a little bit difficult to get used to; although it does reap interesting results when used to it's full potential.

The graphics, for the time, were incredible, although they do look poor in comparison to todays' offerings. The environment was immersive and realistic. The voice acting was cheesy and a bit grim; I definitely didn't enjoy hearing the characters speak; an element I still dislike in the games today!

The sidequest of 'Blitzball' was a lot of fun to play, though, and I easily racked up a few hours doing this.

It's got some good, and some bad, points; looking back on it, I'd say it has a lot more to offer than the likes of FF13, so if you can get a copy, give it a whirl, and you might be pleasantly surprised!

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Personally, I hate this game. I know it has SOME good points, but overall the experience is scarring

I do not know how to even begin to explain how bad Final Fantasy X is to you without bursting into a seething cauldron of rage because this game just baffles me. It has the the worst, and I do mean worst character design ever in a Final Fantasy game, dwarfing even Final Fantasy 8. I disliked Final Fantasy 8, but this game just brought out a whole new level of hatred and pain, I did not know that SquareSoft, now Square Enix, could make something worse than Final Fantasy Hate.

I cannot understand how this game was given such high scores by magazines and independent reviewers. Famitsu gave it a near perfect 39/40, and GamePro gave it 5 out of 5 stars. How is this possible? It is like watching Barbie Goes To Hollywood and then nodding at the end of it, saying that it was one of the best movies you have ever seen. No it wasn't! Were these people paid by Square to give such high ratings? I can't believe that somebody would rate a game this annoying so highly out of their own free will.

I have already confessed to being one of the biggest Squaresoft fanboys in my village when I was but a youngling, but after Final Fantasy 8 my mind was already filling with doubt and anxiety. Was my favourite Japanese RPG company starting to churn out rubbish games? Final Fantasy 9 came out later that put my mind at a relative ease, but that was until this abomination, this travesty was purchased by me. It tainted my Playstation 2 with its unholy aura as I put it into the tray of my beloved console and then forever regretted it. It's not like getting rid of the game would make the pain go away, like how Suzie down the road would not take away the syphilis she gave you if she moved away a week later.

The story itself is crap, but the most annoying thing, the game breaker for me, are the insanely annoying as crap main characters of the game. Oh God, why did they design these characters? Why did they hire the voice actors to portray these people? It just blows my mind that people would sit through the entire game with these characters and not want to stab themselves in the eye.

Don't get me wrong, there are some good things about this game, but the bad heavily outweighs the good, and it isn't like 1 good deed can redeem a man of a lifetime of wickedness.

::[[ THE BAD ]]::

Allow me to elaborate on the reasons this game just causes me to bubble over in agony.

:: INTRO ::

We start the game with a camera panning out from a hill with the weapons of our protagonists shoved into it. We then see our protagonists just lazing about a camp fire, singing cumbaya and looking mournful, reflecting on something that could have changed their mental well-being. Slow, gentle, yet sorrowful piano music slowly plays as the camera does another pan of the other characters, and then this is broken up by the nostril vocals of Tidus, our male protagonist, with the first exposition of the game.

"Listen to my story... this could be our last chance..."

Basically, he is going to retell his story to the people sitting at the camp fire, who have already witnessed what he has gone through, first hand! Let's say you were at a luxury cruise, you run into some rocks and the ship starts sinking, you would be terrified and running for your life. When you get to the shore, drenched but still alive, someone from the same cruise comes up to you and says, "Oh God, you don't know what just happened to me, I was on that ship that is sinking! I nearly died!" Yes, I know! I was there! I am in a life jacket, I look like a drowned rat, I don't need you to tell me!

And don't you just hate narratives that start you off in the present, and then go into some sort of flashback so you have to play the game until you get to the point when the story telling began? It just kills all sorts of suspense because we see the main characters alive and well there, we see them at this place around a camp fire, so obviously they all survived up to that point and are going to embark on an epic mission in the area they are camping at. It doesn't take a genius to work that out.

:: STORY ::

This game takes place on Spira, a world where the reigning sport is Blitzball, this netball game that is played underwater. Tidus is a sportsman as he is a celebrity Britzball player, and part of the famous team, the Zanardkand Abes.

After our intro sequence, we are taken to Tidus's city of Zanarkard where he is *cough* The star player of the Zanardkand Abes! *cough* He is getting ready to play a massive Blitzball tournament, with some finely made cut scenes, but then something attacks the stadium, smashing the game into pieces and ruining the children's ice cream. That something is called... Sin.

The story is mainly to stop that creature called Sin from destroying the world. Everywhere it goes, it leaves a wake of carnage and destruction, everything in it's way would be decimated and turned to ash. Sin is so evil that even it's dandruff can come to life and attack people. It is like the Cloverfield monster, only meaner, hovering, and more grey.

Tidus spends the first few minutes acting like a pansy until his father's old friend, Auron, appears to save his arse. However, things are not as it seems as Sin swoops overhead, engulfing the both of them in a shaft of light, sucking them both in. This scene was very disturbing because Meg Ryan... I mean Tidus's face becomes all contorted and warped as he gets drawn into the light. It just brings back many nightmares.

Tidus awakens later, 1000 years in the future, with no idea where he is, what he is doing, or why he is even there in the first place. What is it with Final Fantasy and time travel? First Time Kompression, now Sin induced time transference. His home city is now seen as a sacred place, the most holy of cities that none may trespass. A lot has changed, but that flipping game Blitzball has survived. How?

The story then moves on to meeting up with the other characters and the mission to stop the evil floating meatball Sin from vapourising Spira with it's dangerous dandruff and evil energy beams.

:: STUPID CHARACTERS ::

I am only to to talk about the most annoying people in this game because if anything, they break the game completely.

The main character is this guy called Tidus, he is the star player of this futuristic water polo game called Blitzball, and he has major daddy issues. Why I hate this guy is because he looks like Meg Ryan, he has a stupid nasally voice, he whines incessantly about everything all the time, and he wears this stupid pair of leather laderhosen. When he gets roped into the whole story, he spends most of his time whining about his situation or about the situation of anything that occurs around him that is not to his taste. Honestly, I found myself wanting an option to shut him and his subtitles up, just so I wouldn't wail on my TV a rain of carnage. Imagine, Meg Ryan from that movie Inner Space with Dennis Quaid, she kept whining on and on, and I felt that they based this character off of her.

I really hate his nasally voice, as he never stops talking. He has too many monologues in this game that do not have you invest more emotionally into the game, you just want him to shut the hell up. It is either that, or he constantly reminds you that he is, "The star player of the Zanardkand Abes", or that, "This is my story". The funny thing is that no, it is not your story, it is somebody else's!

That somebody else is Yuna, who is a summoner, a believer of the Teachings of Yevon. She is tasked with the perilous journey to save the world of Spira, and gifted with the powers to summon powerful creatures to crush her foes. I swear, this girl has no soul. This girl was raised in seclusion with the only goal in life to be a summoner like her father, so her people skills and knowledge of the outside world are pretty much zero. This means she has no interests, she has no opinions, she just runs around with this 1 goal to try and save the world. I have seen her interact with Tidus, and it is painful, really really painful just watching her be naïve and innocent when presented with a multitude of questions. She spends most of the time being hesitant and saying, "Mm", a lot. If you had a slab of tofu, it could have taken the place of Yuna in this game with nothing affected in the slightest. Hell, tofu would have made the character more interesting, remember Resident Evil 2's tofu mission? Yeah, that was awesome.

Tidus ends up as Yuna's protector as she travels around the globe to save the world, which makes it pretty much HER story, and not Tidus's even though he likes to reminds us time and time again and it is HIS story. She is the one with the mission to save the world, Tidus is just tagging along. There are some parts of the plot that involve him, but that does not warrant him to be the main character.

Next up we have Wakka. Oh my days, does Wakka make me want to hurt myself. He has the biggest cowlick in the history of video gaming, and I am serious. Just search anywhere for a video game character with a hairstyle that sticks up as high as he's does. He is a Blitzball player in his small village, and is probably the only half-decent player there until Tidus turns up, declaring that he is, "The star player of the Zanardkand Abes!" He is one of Yuna's guardians, people that must protect her as she makes her pilgrimage to save the planet. He speaks with this annoying voice that rivals Tidus in causing me to rip my hair out. It is this fake hawaiian accent, and he always ends his questions with a 'Ya?' noise. To make things worse, he is such an insensitive and idiotic character that doesn't know when to shut up. For instance, later in the game a group of people call the Al Bhed blow up their home to help our main characters. The Al Bhed are obviously devastated and weep at their loss, but he just opens that hole he calls a mouth and says, "Hey - don't look so down! BOOM! Hahaha! Like happy festival fireworks, ya?" These Al Bhed, blew up the place they called home for many generations; a place they had many happy memories from, and Wakka compared it to happy festival fireworks? He needs to be damned for eternity.

And that is not all, Wakka has the manliest weapon ever known to humankind. His Blitzball. I kid you not, he uses a Blitzball. Imagine a volleyball, but coloured blue with a white stripe down the middle. That's a Blitzball, and he uses it by throwing it at the forces of darkness. How this is even plausible is beyond me, but what I find even more baffling is that no matter how far he throws it, he always managed to catch it back again. Even if the monster has its mouth wide open and the ball goes inside it to do some damage, it somehow manages to make its way back out of that mouth and into the hands of Wakka.

What astonished me the most about him was when Tidus decided to tag along with Yuna on her quest to save humanity as one of her guardians, Wakka says, "What? This is no times for jokes, ya? He may be a Blitzball whiz kid, but up against fiends, he's a newbie." Of course, Wakka. He can take his 6ft sword and leave with it because your Blitzball is such a weapon of mass destruction(!)

Lastly, the final character I want to moan about is Rikku, an Al Bhed girl with spiral irises and is a cousin to Yuna. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing majorly wrong about her character in the game, she is happy and upbeat and cute in every way, constantly trying to support Yuna and aid her on her quest. The issue here is that she is treated like a sex object in this game by fans, and yet she is only FIFTEEN years old. Yes, you read that right, FIF-TEEN-YEARS-OLD, and yet the game likes to pan to shots of her chest and bottom every chance that it has. I'm sorry, but that is just wrong on every level, and there is even a scene of her taking her clothes off. Okay, it was because she had her diving suit on and was fully clothed underneath, if fully clothed means hot-pants and a sleeveless top. She is one half of the fan service duo of Final Fantasy X; she caters for the dirty old Japanese men that like to look at young girls, whilst the other half, a black mage called Lulu, caters for the Goth-loving bondage fetishists (I'll talk a bit more about Lulu later).

Before she permanently joins your party, she actively and fiercely tries to kill you and your team in a fight as she is piloting a giant mechanised monstrosity. When she is defeated, does she apologise? No. She strips in front of Tidus, causing him to go, "Hah?", but that is more than enough for him to forgive and forget the last 5 minutes of fighting for his life.

:: BLITZBALL ::

I am happy that Square did away with the annoying as heck Triple Triad card game of Final Fantasy 8, but they replaced it with this annoying mini game that is not as bad, but still not fun at all.

There are a number of things I find completely weird about Blitzball, things that make no sense and that is before we get to the mechanics of the mini game.

In one of the earlier cut scenes, we see this giant machine powering up, a lot of electricity is generated and it sparks towards the centre of the stadium. Next thing we know, a giant globe of water starts filling up in thin air until it is literally a massive ball of floating water. This is where Blitzball takes place, that is the 'pitch'. These players leap inside it and can swim around in full 360 degrees, whilst passing, blocking and trying to score goals with the ball, the Blitzball, whilst underwater.

My first complaint is that it is underwater and the players spend over 3 minutes underwater, moving about with lots and lots of activity, without once coming up for air. Are all players of Blitzball masters of yoga breath holding or something? How can you do lots of vigorous and strenuous motion underwater without needing air every 10 seconds? People usually drown in under 30 seconds if they drive their cars into a lake and then struggle to get out, so I find this just baffling. And no, I will not buy the explanation of oxygenated water that can provide air directly to your lungs, because the players are not seen choking the water out of their lungs when a match is over.

Next, I want to talk about the hydrodynamics of the ball, because these players can throw the ball straight at another player when passing or kicking it at high speed into the opposition's goal. I don't know about you, but I have tried throwing underwater and kicking something as hard as I could at my local swimming baths and it is not easy. Water causes much more resistance than air does, so how this is even possible in the game makes no sense, you can barely make an object budge underwater, even if you had the strength of 10 men. The laws of physics do not apply in Spira.

Lastly, I want to discuss the fact that when you actually play the mini game, you can only play on a 2D plane that allows you to go forwards, back, left and right, but never up or down. The cut scene clearly shows players going in all directions, even leaping out of the globe of water on one occasion, and yet the game itself limits us to a 2D plane. That is just false advertising people, it's like advertising that gargling Milton Sterilising Tablet water would cure your bad breath.

To keep the explanation of this game simple, you basically have 2 teams competing at any one time, and the idea is to score more goals than the opposition. Easy enough you say, but how it works is that you swim towards the other goal, whilst passing the ball to other players so that you do not get into an encounter with the opposition, because if the other player or players even graze you, you enter encounter mode.

In encounter mode, the other player or players attack you, and if you cannot handle the beatings, they take the ball from you and then swim towards your goal. Not good obviously, so you have to pursue them and strike back. Really, really tedious.

The main thing here are the stats, because it doesn't matter that somebody can be sneaky or has a special evasion manoeuvre, everything is based on the score a person has on a specific stat. For instance, each player has a passing score, the higher the score the further they can throw the ball to another player. As the ball travels through the water, their passing number counts down, and if it reaches zero before it gets to the other player, that player can fumble it allowing the other team to snatch the ball.

Here is another one, let's say your character gets into an encounter with a player from the other team, and you have the ball. They will attack you so they will use their attack score against you. You counter that with your endurance score, and if your endurance is higher than their attack score, you keep the ball and then can choose what to do with the ball, such as passing it or shooting with it.

Then we have the shooting part of the game. If you manage to get pass the opposition's defences, and approach the other person's goal, you get into an encounter with the goal keeper. In this case, you obviously want to shoot to score, so it is your shooting score versus the goal keeper's catching score. If your shooting score is higher than their catching score, you get the goal.

Now we have to talk about the HP, and it is not Health Points or anything like that. Everything you do when a player has the ball uses up HP, and it replenishes once you have relinquished the ball. It rarely falls to zero, but you got to be careful because if that ever gets to nought then your character is basically out of the game.

There are special moves you can learn as well for each of your players that boost your shooting score or poison the other team. Yeah, you can learn moves that allow you to play dirty, but these moves use up HP so you have to make sure you have enough HP available to pull them off after you've learned them.

The question you have to ask is why would you want to play such an annoying game? Well, it is because if you want Wakka's best weapon and best move, you have to play this mini game and win the league in order to get them. I cannot understand why anyone would purposely subject themselves to this torture because the game is just tedium personified. Plus, you have the option to put the game into Auto mode where the players just move about automatically until you get into an encounter, then you can decide what you are going to do. That just takes away the whole strategic element of the game because you cannot control where you want to place the player to start off the best moves.

The only reason I know about this game is because you are forced to play it as part of the game's story, and the team you play against are a bunch of cheating scoundrels that tend to poison your guys or are much faster than them when swimming. If you play this, 9 times out of 10 you would lose, so just put it on auto and just keep pressing the X button. Of course, this would be the case until I discovered online that you can simply score 1 goal so that you are 1 ahead, then you can swim and hide behind your goal keeper. All the other players just freeze in place until the timer ends and you win, making the game pointless.

::[[ THE GOOD ]]::

Yes, I actually have some nice things to say about the game.

:: GAMEPLAY ::

Like other Final Fantasy games, this game is a turn based one, where you take turns with the enemy in dealing out damage. The team with the weaker players and poorer strategy will lose, and hopefully that isn't you.

You run about the world, trying to navigate to your goal, and occasionally you get into a fight with some enemies. Sometimes, you get into a fight with this really big enemy, that is called a boss battle and it can take a while to complete because bosses have powerful moves that can end you. What this means is that for most of the game, you only need the left joystick and the X button to get through game and see the ending.

What I like, yes I like, about the battle system is that although you can only have 3 active members on at a time, you can dynamically swap team members if the situation calls for it to support your team or to perform some sort of devastating attack on the enemy. You also get this really convenient vertical bar on the right of the screen that shows you whose turn it is next so that you can plan for certain situations that could leave you dead. For instance, there is a boss that can do a multiple hit attack to wreck your entire team, so you bust out the protection spells and heal up, and once it hits, you heal up again. The queue then shows that the enemy doesn't have another go for another 6 turns, so you bust out the whoop ass and kick the enemy in the face!

Later, when you have Rikku in your party, you can modify your equipment to give them extra boost against enemies or for better protection. I did this when fighting enemies that had a hard outer shell so Tidus's attacks were pretty much pathetic and weak. However, after modifying his weapon to have the piercing ability, his sword can 'pierce' the defences of that outer shell and hurt the enemy directly, ending the enemy much faster than before. This adds an extra layer of strategy that would be welcome by most.

The enemies you fight in the game are called fiends, and as the guys would explain to Tidus, fiends are made up of souls that have not moved on to the farplane (their version of the afterlife), thus festering in the mortal realm until they become filled with hatred. That hatred causes many of the souls to be drawn together, and that creates the fiends. Now, I want to explain quickly that in this game, if you die, that is not the end of you. If you die, chances are you will become either a fused fiend, or a creature that is much stronger than when you were before you died. There are a few characters in the game that are a pushover when alive, but when they come back in death they just get stronger, and every time you beat that person they just keep coming back with more health and more special moves. What this means is that you shouldn't be afraid of death in this game, because if you pass away, you will return better than ever, so what is with the fear in Sin blowing up your Sunday lunch?

Now I have talk about the sphere grid, which is how you improve the statistics of the characters. As you fight in the game, you get AP or Ability Points, and when you get enough AP, you get a Sphere Level, or S.LVL in the game's menu. With each S.LVL you have, you can move forward in the sphere grid and power up your character. The grid itself is a massive spirally path of nodes connected by lines. Each node activated will improve a certain statistic or allow you to learn a new move. It is quite linear at the beginning, but later it lets you branch out and take paths that might not seem like something the character would take, i.e. Tidus is a warrior type, but if you wish, you can make him go down a black mage path and learn destructive spells.

Certain areas of the sphere grid is locked and you need key spheres to unlock them in order to get access to a new area you want to divert into. These key spheres can be obtained from enemy drops or stealing them from enemies, but the main thing to remember is that each key sphere has a different level, ranging from 1-4. The level means that is can unlock that level lock on the sphere grid, and ONLY that level lock, so you cannot use a level 4 key sphere to unlock a level 3 lock. This allows you to gain access to the entire sphere grid, so a character that has travelled along the entire grid, leaving no node inactivate, would become almost Godlike.

Limit breaks make a comeback in this game, but this time they are called Overdrives. They work pretty much the same as any Final Fantasy game, you get slapped around a bit, and when you can takes no more, you bust out a super move to ruin your enemies swiftly. Each character has their own set of special techniques, and their best moves need to be earned and not learnt, but if you can find them, it may be worth it.

Lastly I will discuss the summons that Yuna can bring forth from the nether dimension to assist you in battle. In your travels, Yuna will visit temples and pass a number of trials in order to obtain a new summon needed for her quest. These summons, when actually called in battle, arrive in a really spectacular fashion, with the sky changing colour or the ground being rent asunder by their mighty bellow. The rest of the party disappear, leaving only Yuna and her summon on the battlefield to fight the enemy ahead. These summons are pretty powerful and the cinematic entrance of most of them is pretty amazing to watch. If the summons fall in battle, the party returns to pick up the pieces. The best summon at Yuna's disposal is Yojimbo, this samurai that fights for money. When you summon him, sakura petals drift across the screen, and he enters gracefully like a silent ninja. Yuna then has to pay him for his services, and depending on how much you give him, he would either use his weakest move, which is summoning his ninja dog to attack, or his best move that kills all enemies immediately with one blow. The technique that kills everyone with one blow works on bosses as well, so if you have the cash, just pay Yojimbo and he will vanquish Sin for you in one move! Who knew money could wield so much power.

:: AURON ::

Auron is probably the coolest character ever designed by Square. He looks like a middle-aged, gruff looking man that only has 1 eye left, carries this 6ft sword on his shoulder, a wooden flask of wine on his belt and constantly has his left arm slung inside his jacket.

Then when he gets serious in a fight, his left arm comes out. There is a cut scene of him doing this and it is simply awesome, the enemies just cower in fear when Auron brings up the his warrior aura.

He rarely speaks at all, but when he does speak, it is always something that makes sense and it is never panicked or rushed. He takes his time to think about his next move before he does it, and that coupled with his fighting abilities makes him a man to be respected and feared by all that oppose him.

He is so bad ass that in Kingdom Hearts 2 when Hades summoned him from the dead to do his bidding, he told Hades to get lost. What other man would tell the God of the Underworld to get lost?

::[[ THE REST ]]::

Now I talk about the remainder of this game.

:: GRAPHICS ::

I have to say that for the time, these graphics looked pretty good, very colourful and very nice, but this game did show the weaknesses of the PS2 because it was lacking in polygons in many places. The character models all look quite stiff and awkward, the textures were a bit blurry, and the Blitzball itself looked like a 20-sided die because it couldn't summon up enough polygons to make it appear rounder.

You may be thinking that I shouldn't pick on a game that had, for its time, cutting edge graphics, but yes I can because the PS2 was well known for its 'edged' effects. The anti-aliasing was poor on the PS2, and it really showed in this game as the edges were all jagged and crooked, it just took away from the experience for me.

:: AUDIO ::

Besides from the nauseating voices of Tidus and Wakka, this game does have some pretty good sound effects and music, it doesn't grate on your nerves and it can be quite memorable, such as the battle theme. The song that most people will remember hearing is the love theme, Suteki Da Ne, made known by the infamous yet beautifully pre-rendered cut scene when Yuna breaks down in front of Tidus, so he starts swimming with her and snogging her underwater. Who knows what happens next after that, but this gentle piano and violin-based song plays and you just forget that our main characters are these pair of annoying as crap people. The song played in the cut scene is in Japanese, which is the proper way to enjoy the song as the English version, although not bad, doesn't capture the same delicate feel of the song.

:: THE OTHER PLAYABLE CAHRACTERS ::

The only characters left to mention are Kimahri Ronso and Lulu.

Kimahri is part of the Ronso tribe, these group of cat-like muscle bound warriors that fight with spears and spit seeds at people. He lost his horn, a very important part of the Ronso anatomy, so he gets laughed at by his peers. He, like Wakka, is a guardian of Yuna, and he rarely speaks as when he does it is in broken English, but as a result I do not hate the guy. Thing is, I don't really find him at all that compelling either, he is just there to bulk up the party.

Then we have Lulu, the black mage of the game and the other half of the fan service duo. This woman is skilled in the black arts, and for a weapon, she uses a Moogle doll. If you're not sure what a Moogle is, it is like a little white cat with a pink bauble on its head that likes to say 'Moogle!' a lot. This game does not have them at all, so the doll is the only Moogle related object in the game, and it is really crap. Honestly, it does hardly any damage at all, Lulu needs to depend on her black magic like casting Fire or Ice in order to fight.

Why is she the other half of the fan service duo? That is because she dresses like some sort of Goth chick, with the dark eye make up and purple lipstick, but what sticks out most of all about her are 2 things:

- Her dress- Her breasts

That's right, her dress displays her cleavage for the entire world to see. That big, heaving bosom that she just loves to show off after she's won a fight by leaning forward. It's not necessary for the game but there it is. She's also a guardian that chest... I mean just... wants to help Yuna on her bras... I mean cause. And then, you'll notice that most of her dress is made from belts. Yes, loads and loads of belts intertwined and woven around, with a conveniently placed gap so you can see her legs from the side, all strapped around her. If that doesn't scream bondage then I don't know what does.

She is supposed to be the love interest of Wakka, but you get the chance to flirt with her as Tidus midway in the game, and she remarks that she finds it interesting and would add Tidus to the list. Now, I don't know what kind of list that is, but judging from the belts and the Goth look, I imagine it could be payable by the hour.

:: VERDICT ::

Personally, I hate this game. I know it has SOME good points, but overall the experience has scarred me for life. It is like meeting a girl that is smart and witty and pretty and exciting, but she has a beard. One thing would put you off, but this game has like 90% of it as a massive torture of the soul.

I cannot stand the main characters of this game, I cannot stand the stupid Blitzball mini game that you must play as part of the storyline, and I cannot stand the weak story that, for some reason, has time travel in it, but it is never brought up again. Why did Square make this game with those design decisions? I, for the life of me, cannot fathom the reasoning behind the choices made by the game's designers and director.

What I cannot understand most of all are the ratings given to it by most people. They rate it very highly, and that just bothers me. How can you rate a game so highly when you have Meg Ryan complaining for most of the game, Yuna being a complete and utter wallpaper paste character, Wakka with his cowlick and insensitive remarks, and Rikku the underage, borderline paedophile's dream character. I played this game from beginning to end because I was a fanboy, and I thought maybe I would give this a chance since Final Fantasy 9 was alright. No, it wasn't alright, it got on my nerves.

I can't recommend this game. I just can't, it would go against my nature because I loathe it. And guess what I did after I completed this game and swore never to touch another Square game ever again? Played Final Fantasy 12 and Final Fantasy 13. Kill me.

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My favourite Final Fantasy game ever with a brilliant and breathtaking story!

===== FINAL FANTASY X =====The Final Fantasy games are probably one of the biggest known games ever and they seem to just keep making them with new ideas and they never seem to get old. Final Fantasy X is a role playing game and by far one of the best ever created in my opinion. The game was developed and published by Squaresoft but in 2003 the name was changed to Square Enix. Final Fantasy games have always featured a beautiful storyline and Final Fantasy X features one of the most breathtaking storylines ever created for a game. The game is set in a fantasy world called Spira and literally everything about the game is phenomenal. The Final Fantasy games are probably the best role playing games available but there has always been debates which is the best and my opinion is this one.

=== STORY ===Final Fantasy X has the best story I have witnessed for a game and it literally has everything and you go through so many emotions through playing the whole game. You take the role of Tidus (you can change his name to what suits you if you want) a celebrity pro blitzball player. Tidus is running late for his big match and rushes to the game and luckily he makes it on time. Whilst hes playing certain things start to happen around the city of Zanarkand and all of a sudden the city is obliterated by a huge creature shrouded in water that goes by the name Sin. Tidus and his fathers friend Auron try helping people but before they can do anything they are both sucked into Sin. Tidus awakens at a mysterious place with no sign of Auron luckily eventually he meets up with some new friends and Auron. Now Tidus and his new companions must find Sin and put an end to his destruction.

=== GAMEPLAY ===Final Fantasy X is fantastic for gameplay features. The game is a role playing game with a Conditional Turn-Based Battle system. Probably the best battle system for an role playing game so far. The only problem is you can only pick 3 of the characters to battle at anyone time but you can actually change characters in the middle of a fight which is fantastic. One thing this game doesn't feature is a world where you can literally explore everywhere and its fairly simple to follow and understand where to go. You end up visiting many different places in the game such as towns, villages, temples, caves, forests and many more with lots of variety in each place. You also meet many companions on your quest and some of these become your best friends and are with you to the very end of the game. Most characters are specialized with certain abilities or techniques. For an example Yuna can summon creatures to help fight with you. These summons can be acquired from temples. Kimahri can steal and learn the abilities of his enemies and the other characters also have their own unique abilities and attacks.

Through your story you encounter many ferocious beasts and a lot of big bosses that are detailed beautifully. Also as you progress through the main quest you will find many items worth collecting. There are lots of Al Bhed books scattered throughout the game and these enable you to learn how to speak and understand the language of the Al Bhed. Al Bhed is a race in the game that aren't supposed to be very friendly but one of your friends called Rikku is an Al Bhed. There are shops in villages and other places that sell new weapons and equipment. The equipment is only accessories and each character can only have one equipped at anyone time. You can add special attacks and abilities to your weapons. Each weapon has so many empty slot and these abilities can add things like poison to your attacks or increase critical hit chance and many more. It costs experience to do this and experience is acquired as you kill enemies.

One of the best new things to a game I have ever seen is the Sphere Grid in Final Fantasy X as it has a lot to offer. The Sphere Grid is used to upgrade stats, learn new abilities and much more. Every time a character levels up they gain an item to grant them one Sphere Grid move. The Sphere Grid is massive and a great idea because characters that wouldn't normally use magic can actually learn it in the grid. In Final Fantasy X its very much like most role playing games where your automatically directed to the right path and the game is easy to follow. There are many types of items on the game and all of them will be used as you go through the game. You can carry absolutely loads of items such as healing potions, items to enhance abilities and items that bring you back from the dead. All items can become helpful during battles. Another great part of the game is the fact you can actually play blitzball games later on in the game. Blitzball is a fictional sport that is played underwater and its very much similar to football and american football but carrying the ball with your hands and shooting at a goal with either hand, head or feet. After time is up the team with most goals is the winner. Later in the game you can play a league against other teams. Final Fantasy X is a very solid role player game with some beautiful cinematics. The game is more of a story than most role playing games. It features a lot of talking but its actually really enjoyable. Final Fantasy X also features a few puzzles especially in the temples and you must work your way through them. Overall Final Fantasy is great for its gameplay features and definitely one of the best Final Fantasy games out there. Its not like most role playing games in terms of quality and it certainly has a lot more to offer.

=== GRAPHICS ===Final Fantasy X is a beautiful game in terms of graphics. Even though the game was released back in 2003 the graphics for it are still considered amazing and in my eyes they still can compete with role playing games nowadays. The characters in the game are incredibly designed to every detail and I think they all look stunning. Its hard to pick a fault with the characters and Tidus is one of the best designed characters I have ever seen. The movies in the game are phenomenal especially when the big bosses are coming for you. I also love the fact the whole of Spira is magnificently designed and there are no two places that look the same, its really stunning. even the scenery is breathtakingly good and overall for a PS2 game the graphics are superb. Overall the graphics are definitely a strong point about the game.

=== SOUND EFFECT ===I have to start with the soundtrack to the game because it is really addictive and the music itself sets off a lot of emotions. The music fits perfectly into the game and is by far the best soundtrack to a role playing game. Also there is no need to read the writing because most scenes in the game are movies and instead of reading the writing you can actually listen to them talk. The thing that impresses me the most with the sound effects is the battle effects as they really do sound brilliant. Overall the sound effects are pretty much perfect to Final Fantasy X as expected.

=== DIFFICULTY ===Final Fantasy X is the type of game that could be quite difficult if your not a massive fan of Squaresoft/Square Enix. They can also take a bit of time to adjust to all the controls and other bits the game has to offer. It is probably one of the hardest role playing games available but that's mainly because all of the others are easy. The battle system takes a little time to get the hang of as does the new Sphere Grid but with the tutorials it gets easier. The boss battles can also be quite tricky because some of them require you to do certain things to defeat them. Overall Final Fantasy X isn't the easiest game out there and it does take time to adjust to everything but its definitely worth it in the end.

=== LONGEVITY ===Usually the Final Fantasy games are quite long and feature plenty to keep you gaming for months and Final Fantasy X is no different. The game is actually reasonable in terms of length and also even after completing the game this is certainly worth playing again and again. Final Fantasy can take way up to 40 hours to complete which is fantastic because there is a lot of places to explore and things to find. Also there is only one ending to the game no matter how many times you play it. Overall I think with blitzball, the main quest and other bits the length of the game is actually really good and probably one of the best for a Final Fantasy game.

=== PROS ===A beautifully designed game with some stunning graphics and some brilliant sound effects.A fantastic storyline that will have you hooked from start to finish.Lots of different enemies to take on and some superb bosses too.Can be picked up really cheap now.In my opinion the best Final Fantasy game so far to date.

=== CONS ===The game can be mind baffling at times with the variety of things you can do.Some of the boss fights might cause a few problems.The temples in the game can be really annoying, frustrating and a little boring.Only one ending whereas most role playing games have multiple endings.You can only use 3 of the characters in battle at anyone time.

=== FINAL THOUGHT ===Final Fantasy is one of the best PS2 games out there at an extremely reasonable price. I have always been a massive fan of these games and Final Fantasy X has always and probably will always be my all time favourite. I have completed it numerous times and I can still find time to go back to it because its really enjoyable and the story never gets boring.

I would definitely recommend this game to fans of the series who may think the games have gotten worse because I believe this one reignited the franchise really well. If you love role playing games then look no further because this is exactly that and can offer a whole lot more too. Also because the game is cheap its even more worth it. The game manual that comes with the game is pretty good and has a lot of useful information and can actually help you out a lot. The game has an age rating of 11+.

I bought the game a good year ago for an amazing price of just £4 from Amazon which included postage and its definitely worth the gamble but to be honest if you love RPG's then its not really a gamble because you'll love it. The game is quite hard to find in Game shops nowadays because not many still sell PS2 games. Amazon do however still sell the game but its a tiny bit more now. Amazon now sell the game for around £6 which includes postage but its still worth every penny.

With Final fantasy X comes a bonus disc entitled Beyond Final Fantasy. The disc contains a few trailers of games. It also features previews and has interviews, a gallery and the theme song from the game. Its definitely worth its money even for the bonus disc.

One of my all time favourite role playing games with a beautiful and emotional story. I would give Final Fantasy X a superb 9/10!

Review also on Ciao under the username: MrBrightside1987!

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Would recommend this to any Final Fantasy fan

Final Fantasy X has become one of the most memorable, most popular in it's franchise. It is equipped with gorgeous FMV scenes with a variation of colours, a familiar battle system out on the field, and structured, fleshed out characters that almost force you to become emotionally attached. The storyline itself is written in-depth, and possibly one of the strongest in the Final Fantasy series.

Final Fantasy X is the first FF game to include voice actors, which in my experience of playing the game has made the characters and the story very realistic to play through. Each of the seven playable characters has a back story that is revealed step by step the further you delve into the game with unexpected twists and surprising elements. FFX is also the first in the series to contain a Sphere Grid levelling system - instead of your characters levelling up by gaining exp. points, you take control of a grid to learn new attacks, skills and magic, as well as strengthening your attack power, defense, magic attack, and magic defense. This grid comes with two options for beginners and for those who have played the game before. As long as you carefully read the tutorial when playing this game for the first time, the sphere grid will be easy to pick up as you go along.

Each character has an advantage and disadvantage during battle in this game, and once you become comfortable with them all you can easily defeat enemies and boss battles in a matter of minutes. You can switch out characters to replace them with others to suit your battle strategy depending on what monsters you're fighting - but you need to increase your sphere grid for each character to gurantee your progression through the game.

This RPG will not disappoint faithful fans of the Final Fantasy franchise. It includes many familiar systems, summons, attributes, weapon and armor customisation, and world map system. You can easily clock over 100 hours of gameplay with side-quests and completing the sphere grid. With in-depth characters, a tragic storyline and an unforgettable soundtrack, you will want to play this game again and again.

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FF10 is a great game which has good graphics/sound quality and a very interesting story.

You may be wondering why i'm writing a review about such an old game. The reason is that this game is beautiful and I had played through it many times in the past. Now its so low priced its definitely worth getting.

Final Fantasy X was created in 2002. It is about a man (Tidus) who ends up in a world completely different to his, as if he's entered the future. The graphics of this game are impressive and the sound quality is pretty good aswel. His father had disappeared when he was a child but Tidus found his fathers friend in this new world. This friend, Auron told Tidus that he was just a "dream". This concept can be confusing but he's basically saying that Tidus doesn't actually exist which can be quite puzzling. Tidus meets Auron near the start of the game. He meets another character Rikku not long after. Rikku is Al bhed which is a language spoken by certain characters in the game. These were robots who helped people in battle. He meets Wakka, Lulu, and Yuna on an island. Yuna is a summoner which is basically people who summon creatures to help in battle and she is going on a pilgrimage to become a "high summoner" who are capable of defeating sin. Sin is a creature which was believed to have been created to punish the people for their sins. They believed that making machines to fight for them was a sin and this is why Sin exists. Wakka and Lulu are just Yuna's friends but help you in battle along the way. You meet Kimahri around half way through the game. He is known as a Ronso. They kind of resemble a type of snow werewolf with a horn. Kimahri was cast aside by his Ronso friends because his horn has been broken in battle.

One of the unique features of Final Fantasy X is the Sphere Grid. The Sphere Grid is of course a grid which you can expand as you level up. You can gain spheres in battle such as power spheres, armour sphere, strength spheres etc. You can also get master spheres which can fill in any gap in the grid regardless of what attribute it is. You can obtain level 1,2 and 3 level spheres which are unique as some paths are blocked by gaps which need these spheres in them in order to move further. Each level you gain you can move further across the Sphere Grid. The Sphere Grid requires skill, concentration and a lot of thinking to understand the correct path to take to obtain the results you want. It takes a very long time to get the whole grid done and there's no guarantee you will have the spheres for it. The process of trying to get extra Spheres can be frustrating but that problem is pretty rare.

Another feature is Overdrives. Overdrives are special moves each character can use when they build up there Overdrive bar. The bar is built up by attacking enemies and if you get it max and end the battle you will still have it in the next battle which was pretty nice.

Tiduses Overdrives are: Spiral Cut which is an upwards swing and increases damage. Slice and Dice which is a combination of normal sword moves which hits more than one foe, this doesn't hit them all at the same time as you get like 6 swings which hit different foes. Its not balanced as one foe can receive more hits than the other. Energy Rain, well the name says it all. Blitz Ace is his most powerful overdrive, it consists of a number of sword attacks then if you time it right he kicks a blitz ball which hits all the enemies at the end.

I'm not going to describe all of the other Overdrives for the other characters as you'd just get bored because you could just as easily watch them on You tube

The games game play was similar to the Final Fantasy's before it. It was a turn based system where you picked what you wanted each of your characters too do. You could also swap out characters for other characters in the middle of battle which I found really handy for when one of my characters was close to dead or wasn't strong against the enemy.

You can play Blitz Ball in the game. Blitz Ball is a mini game which is, well think about football but underwater and you can throw and kick the ball into a triangular goal. I found Blitz Ball a real joy to play as you could win various prizes from it which helped you in the game and the fact that well, I would buy a game just to play Blitz Ball alone because I found it that enjoyable!

The main concept in the game is to get Yuna from temple to temple. In each temple she acquires a new Aeon. These Aeons can help in battle. Now now I hope after reading all of this so far your a fan of puzzles! If not im kind of worried now. The Cloister of Trials how fun. These are puzzles which you need to do in each temple before Yuna can acquire an Aeon. They can be quite frustrating and time consuming but if it all gets too much you could just simply look at an FAQ or watch a video about it.

That's about it for this review. I wrote most of what I could remember as after all it has been 5 years since I have played that wonderful game.

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A fantastic play from start to finish with music and graphics to match

Final Fantasy X is the first Final Fantasy game to be produced for Playstation 2 and they utilised everything possibly available on this new platform to produce a masterpiece of a game.

The story follows a star blitzball player, Tidus as he is sucked into Spira, a strange new world as his hometown of Zanarkand is destroyed by an entity known to him as Sin. When he wakes in Spira he finds that Sin is also present there and that Zanarkand has been a ruin for a thousand years. Joining a young summoner Yuna and her guardians attempting to defeat Sin, Tidus hopes that once they reach Zanarkand he will be able to find a way home and destroy Sin in the meantime.

=Gameplay=The gameplay outside of battle remains similar to previous games where you control your character in an over the shoulder third person style. The stunning graphics make for breathtakingly beautiful locations and unlike previous installments there is no world map, instead you move from one location to the next making you really feel as though you are on a journey.

Instead of levelling up FFX introduces a sphere grid. In place of gaining experience points to level up you gain moves around the sphere grid and use spheres to add attributes and abilities to your characters. On the standard grid your characters have obvious paths to take allowing them to develop according to their roles in the game. However you can also opt for the advanced grid meaning your characters could end up with any number of random abilities.

=Blitzball=Like every Final Fantasy there is a mini game and in FFX you can play Blitzball. A sports game set in a huge sphere of water. While a number of the games are related to the plot you also have the option of recruiting fellow Blitzers throughout the world of Spira to create your own team to compete in different leagues and tournaments.

=Combat=The random battle feature remains but with drastic changes to the combat system. Instead of the ATB system (active time battle) featured in all other Final Fantasies, FFX introduces the CTB (conditional turn based battle) where both players and enemies take their turns to attack each other. The result is you can take a lot more time to plan your battle strategy and with a handy, small chart telling you when each person is going to have their turn it gives you a chance to play out long battles rather than just inflicting as much damage as possible as quickly as possible. The characters maintain Limit Breaks (this time called 'Overdrives') and one of the best features in my opinion was the ability to change how this gauge filled. A number of options are presented to you allowing you to get the best out of each character, if you have a character specifically geared towards healing then set it to fill every time you heal someone. If you have a character that primarily handles physical attacks set it to fill every time you damage an enemy. It really does make it easy to tailor the combat to your personal preferences.

Another added dimension allows you to switch at will between all seven playable characters (assuming they are with your team and not the other side of the world map). Any character that engages in combat for at least one turn gains xp which is handy if you're like me and usually settle into using 3 or 4 characters only and ignoring the others because it's just too much effort to take them with you.

But perhaps the most innovative change to the battle system is the way in which Espers/Guardian Forces/Materia/Shiva and that lot (whatever you call them) act. Now called Aeons unlike previous game where you would summon them, they appear, perform their ability and leave they are fully playable in a battle context. They have their own attacks, own spells, special moves and overdrives! Your characters retreat when they have been summoned handing thee stage right over to the Aeons, an absolutely fantastic addition!

Everything about this game is brilliant. It's the first Final Fantasy to use voice acting and the casting is wonderful. The musical score, like every Final Fantasy is wonderful and complements the scenery perfectly. The story is interesting with twists throughout and is also emotional, the ending sequences are real tear jerkers culminating in the most emotional ending to a Final Fantasy yet. Play with tissues!

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buy it already

This is by far my favourite game on the playstation 2. Final fantasy is the ultimate rpg series available, and final fantasy X is a welcome addition to the series and is one of the series best yet.

You play as Tidus a star blitzball (like an underwater football, its the most popular sport in this fictional world) player from zanarkand. When the city of zanarkand is attacked by a large creature known as sin, everything changes for him. A mysterious stanger known as auron comes to help him and gives him a sword, they fight there way through some creatures before sin takes them in to Spira.Spira is where the rest of the game is sent. Tidus lands alone on a beach and meets wakka who helps him out. He then meets the rest of the partywho he will travel the rest of his adventure with. These include lulu (master of magic), yuna (the love interest, and a summoner of monsters), rikku (an expert in theft and machinery), and you also meet back with auron a master with the sword.You aim in the game is to travel the world of spira fighting various monster before defeating Sin a monster who once killed will come back after 10 years. It has been tens years since the last time he was killed and now Tidus has been chosen to kill him this time round.

The gameplay is slightly different to previous games in the series. Rather than the time battle system where a bar much wait to be filled before you can make your move in batte. This time it is a turn based battle system where like the name suggests you take it in turns to make your move, and bar on the side of the screen will tell you the order of play, which means you can plan you moves based on who's go it is next, or how long until it is the enemies go. I know some people didn't like the change, but I really liked it, perhaps because I was rather new to the series when I played it so hadn't gotten used to the old system. Being turn based means you can take more time to plan what move you want to do as before while you were thinking, the enemies bar could fill up. This makes it easier for newer players, but also allows for more strategic thinking for the veterans of the final fantasy series.

The levelling system is also different, rather than just the usual levelling where with each level your stats goes up a bit, instead you earn sphere points. These can be spent to move about the sphere grid and using spheres unlock the nodes which help raise the players stats (for example on node might give your play +2 attack). All members of the party are on the same sphere grid, and you can go on the areas where other members have been. This helps you to customise your player a bit more by allowing you to select where you want to go in the grid, for example some areas may offer you more magic boosts while others may offer attack.

The graphics as ever for the final fantasy sereis were great for their time, and unlike the old games didn't use pre-rendered backgrounds. The characters we well designed and especially in the cut scenes which will rival graphics of today's standards.

The legnth of playtime in very long. To complete the main game will take most people over 40 hours, and after that there are a ton of extra thing to do which will take you just as long, or maybe longer. I brought the piggyback strategy guide which I think is definitely worth a purchase, as it will tell you of all the extras which will give you more than enough extra play time to make the purchase worth while.

The price is very cheap now, and can be brought for under £10 second hand, and if you can find a good bargain somewhere I wouldn't be surprised if you could get it for around £5. For the amount of gameplay you get it is more than worth it.

Overall I would definitely recommend this game to anyone who likes rpg's as this is one of the best. Great story, Great graphics and great gameplay.

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Recently I've become a little addicted to PS2 games, I think due to my boyfriend moving in and bringing many of his with him, including the entire Final Fantasy series .

Final Fantasy is a game series currently spanning 13 games, with a 14th in development . Despite being a series, each game (with the exception of X-2) stands alone, with different characters, a whole new world, and a new storyline .

Storyline-----------Final Fantasy X tells the story of Tidus, star player of the Zanarkind Abe's Blitzball team . On the evening of his big match, the world Tidus knows is thrown into disarray when his city is destroyed, and he finds himself somewhere - and sometime- else . A thousand years into the future to be exact, in a time when the world of Spira is threatened by 'Sin' , which destrys whole towns and kills countless people.

Nobody believes Tidus is from Zanarkind - how can he be when it was destroyed so many years ago . In his efforts to get back to his home, Tidus makes new friends, and finds a new mission - to ensure the safety of summoner in training Yuna, as she travels on a pilgramage to get the final Aeon, and to defeat sin .

Gameplay -------------Gameplay is very simple, and in the early stages there are plenty of tips that help you to progress, and to recognise each individual characters strengths and weaknesses in combat.

Controls are very easy to master, and the random battles are varied, with plenty of different monster types, requiring tactics to progress rather than bling button mashing. Characters advance by fighting and gaining sphere levels, which allow them to move round a grid activating new abilities.

As well as the random battles you will encounter whilst exploring, there are plenty of boss fights throughout the game, with bosses again being varied. Whilst not impossibly hard (certainly not in the first half of the game anyway) these fights are challenging and require a certain amount of tactical intelligence .

Graphics-----------This game has great clear graphics, and some really stunning and varied scenery - from an unspoilt tropical beach to a high tech neon lit temple, there is something to suit every eye .

Music-------The music in this game is lovely. The background atmospherics whilst travelling a zone really seem to suit the area, and the boss battle music is really helps add to the tension . A couple of cutscenes feature some hauntingly beautiful japanese music.

Characters--------------There are a wide range of characters in this game, both playable and non-playable, and each with a distinct personality. Yuna the Summoner for instance is very polite, gentle, and yet determined, whereas Lulu, the black magic user, is dressed in a rather gothic manner and has a straight--talking attitude that can sometimes border on cold.

Many characters have amusing lines, and a couple of the characters make quite surprising about-face turns, nice one minute and nasty the next. It certainly makes for an interesting game.

Overall---------I've really been enjoying this game - I find myself held captive by the storyline, and I'm not ashamed to admit a couple of scenes even had me in tears. I like a game like that , where I care about people rather than just killing everything in sight. I've found the game challenging without being impossibly hard (it's worth noticing that things get harder very quickly at around the halfway point in the storyline) and I like the way certain characters are placed into smaller groups for some battles, really making it important to keep skills balanaced .

This is a fab game. My only criticisms would be that the voices of some of the characters are a little grating for me personally. Also, this isn't a game that can be rushed through - it will take plenty of time to complete, but because of this I feel it offers great value .

A fab game, 5 *

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8/10, Must have game

FFX is one of the best games I have played in a long time the battle system is great the story is ok not the best but much better than the old FF stories. The story is that you play as Tidus from the great land of Zanarkand the star player of the Zanarkand Abes which is a blitzball team, blitzball is just like football but underwater, yes underwater how they hold they breath under the water for that long I have not idea but this is FF remember it does not have to make sense. So Tidus is sent in time to meet Rikku an Al bhed she tells you about a powerful monster that sucked you up to send you forward in time, than after sin attacks you again you get sent away again and meet every that will be in your party:* Yuna, you meet in the temple * Wakka, straight away after sin attacks you for the 2nd time * Lulu, in the temple * Kimahri Ronso, after he tries to kill you, yes he does* Auron, at the beginning of the game to fight some enemies and then a bit later on at a city called Luca * Rikku, after meeting her after sin attacks you the first time you then meet her later when you find her washed up on the side of a path wayBut after you are attacked by sin for the 2nd time Wakka awakes you up by hitting you with his ball, after running about into town, Tidus then finds out he is in the future and has to make out that he was poisoned by sin toxin that is why he says all the weird stuff he does. After meeting Yuna who is becoming a summoner to defeat sin, you go on a journey to get new aeons at the new temples to get the final aeon and kill sin, later on in the game you find out who sin really is and the real secret why Tidus went to the future I will not tell you in this review because it would spoil the whole game and there would be no point playing the game, but let me just say it has one of the best ending and so many twists in the story they are amazing. Some of the good points in this game are the fact that it is very easy to level up characters because you do not have levels you have something called sphere grid which is very easy to use and you can make a character super powerful with just some simple training. Some of the bad points in the game are the fact that some of the characters are so annoying and you have to train them up yet they keep dying because you have not been able to find a health +200 on the sphere grid, But overall this is a very good game and very cheap now and a must have for any fan of RPG's or Final fantasy's games.

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FFX Is 10/10

the game opens with a young Zanarkand Abes blitzball star, Tidus, running into the stadium and being waylaid by his adoring fans, one of whom is rather spectral in appearance. Tidus signs a few autographs and promises to return after the game and give some kids some pointers, and he turns to enter the arena. The blitzball game begins. Tidus executes a particularly well-timed move and as he is suspended in midair, he spies a giant ball of water hovering in the sky. Threw off his timing something fierce ... Death and destruction are rained down upon the city of Zanarkand, people are fleeing for their lives or paralyzed with fear, Tidus joins the stampede ... and is stopped by the no-longer-phantasmagorical ghost child. And thus it begins.

Squaresoft's flagship role-playing series, Final Fantasy, is on Playstation 2 in a spectacular blend of great graphics, art, music, gameplay and cinematics. Final Fantasy X is a significant landmark in the series, bringing many changes to the traditional style while maintaining the classic feel of a Final Fantasy game. Final Fantasy X's storyline covers the world of Spira and its enemy, Sin. The summoners of Spira aspire to train themselves for the day they face Sin and defeat it, bringing a peaceful era called The Calm to the people. Each summoner has warrior guardians for protection during the pilgrimage to Spira's temples. In Final Fantasy X, you travel with the summoner Yuna and her guardians to each of the temples, gathering powers to use on Sin in the final confrontation.

Final Fantasy X brings together the best elements of the Final Fantasy games into one package. The traditional experience/level system of upgrading characters has been replaced by a sphere grid system where you earn points to move characters along a grid and pick up abilities on the way. The sphere grid system makes the player feel fully involved with the progression of the characters' powers; it feels much more intuitive than simply defeating monsters and automatically becoming stronger. Each character begins the game with unique abilities and characteristics, but a high level of customizability allows the player to build a character in any way. Characters retain their power attacks, called "Overdrives" and can use a special ability when the meter is fully charged. Unlike previous Final Fantasies, you can set the conditions for charging the Overdrive meter. You can use the traditional method which charges the meter whenever a character takes damage, but you can also have it charge when a character heals an ally, defeats or damages an enemy, wins a battle, or even when comrades are hurt. The active time battle system has been replaced by a strategic turn-based system where you can view a list of the upcoming turns in battle and plan your attack accordingly. It is possible, for example, to see that an enemy's turn is coming soon and defeat the enemy before it has a chance to make a move, or prepare defensive measures against an enemy's powerful special attack. Characters can trade places with each other on the fly, allowing you to immediately bring in specialists to deal with certain types of enemies. For example, Wakka is skillful at attacking flying creatures while Auron and Kimahri can pierce through armor-plated enemies. It is encouraged that you allow each character to participate in battle, because they will not become stronger unless they take an active role. The world map has been removed and the game's environments are all directly connected with each other. A red arrow marker on the mini-map indicates your destination, ending the confusion of wandering around not knowing what to do next.

Final Fantasy X builds on the series' reputation for outstanding graphics by bringing them entirely to the 3rd dimension. Most of the travel sequences are presented in full 3D graphics rather than the pre-rendered 2D backgrounds which were used in Final Fantasies VII - IX, meaning cinematic camera angles are possible and the characters can explore everything in full detail. A few flaws exist in the overworld's graphics, mostly consisting of shimmering textures in the distance, but areas where these flaws stand out are far and few between, thanks to the detailed worlds and art direction. The special effects during battles are incredible, using the PS2's full library of motion blur, electricity, fire, particle and smoke effects. The summoning spells are among the most visually impressive effects seen on PS2.

Final Fantasy X brings voice acting to the series. For a first effort, the actors did an admirable job of fleshing out the characters with genuine-sounding dialogue and emotions. Although the lips have not been synched with the original Japanese speech, the English voice actors tried to use matching syllables while retaining as much accuracy as possible. The music has a different feel to it than the previous Final Fantasies, but suits the game well. Each environment has the perfect music to complement it: lush green areas on a tropical island have an upbeat, cheery tune and the emotional scenes bring out heartfelt music. Tense, suspenseful scenes have an invigorating yet simple tune that builds upon the excitement.

Final Fantasy X is one of the best games in the series. It is easy to pick up and learn thanks to the helpful in-game tutorial sessions, and later on it proves to be a challenge, requiring every use of the strategic turn system and both offensive and defensive magic spells. The gameplay flows along smoothly and never hits an abrupt snag during its 40 plus hour length. Many secrets exist for those who like to continue playing a game after finishing it, further adding to its length. Final Fantasy X is a must-have game for every PS2 owner.

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A must-have game that cannot go un-experienced. Everything combined creates for a perfect experience

Final Fantasy X is (According to Roman Numerals) the tenth in the Final Fantasy Games. Square Enix continuing to out-perform itself with this epic adventure through the fictitious world of Spira (Despite how much I wanted it to be real, it will always remain this!)

The story follows Tidus, a youth and keen blitzball (I will detail this more later, but yes, they have their own sport) competitor. During his brief encounter with a certain monstrosity Tidus finds himself in a world not too disimilar from his own. From there we follow his endless journey to go home and to overcome the crushing pain of his past and his need to prove himself to his 'old man'.

As the story progresses an obvious love-interest comes into play, with a few comical response-options that highlight this. I'll leave it up to you to see where that leads.

The game itself steps you into a completely different universe. Unlike many games of it's time and genre Final Fantasy X illustrates an entire world, and not just what we see on the outside. In the game you will face deep, moral implications that emphasise the religion within the game. Whilst keeping next-to no ties to the real world, it manages to bring politics, religion and morality and turn it into a emotional mix that truly paints this 'world' of Spira. You travel with Yuna, a young summoner of 'Faiths', people who have given their lives for a specific purpose that can be summoned as mighty creatures to fight for you in battle. The Faiths themselves spawn from a religious culture that takes up the majority of Spira, known as Yevon.

The purpose of these Faiths is to fight Sin. Sin in Spira is believed to be the punishment given to them for neglecting their world to fight great 'Machina' wars. Sin is the plague that haunts everyone and Tidus embarks on an adventure with the Summoner Yuna and her guardians to defeat Sin.

The Guardians consist of a cast of absolutely adorable characters. Remaining true to Final Fantasy there is a mix of all kinds of people. Wakka, the Blitzball finatic, Lulu, the dark magic caster, Kimahri, the big, blue and entirely lovable creature that you just want to hug despite his temperment and solitude (See the fuzz-ball at: http://www.biocrawler.com/w/images/a/a7/Kimahri2.jpg) as well as a few more party members that accumulate.

Despite this intricate and wonderful culture that you explore there are far greater things to admire the game over. Sadly the game continues their turn-based attack system which leaves the game very dry and repetitive but is swiftly caught and blown into our faces with the variable and excessively brilliant Sphere Grid which turns the development of skills into an all-out personalisation of each and every character, turning each one into their own and guaranteeing that no two person in the world will have the same party. This helps to also create a more tactical and strategic fight-system as a lot of planning can be required to maximise your efficiency in the game.

Final Fantasy X also sees the return of the lovable Chocobos, everything an ostrich should be (See: http://www.digitalscryer.com/Pics/chocobo.jpg) But despite all these one thing remains above it all.

Since the early days on the PSOne, Final Fantasy has been renowned for it's animated cutscenes, spawning the film Final Fantasy VII Advent Children (Which I will hopefully have had the pleasure to review soon) and Final Fantasy X is no exception. From the beautiful animations of the vast and beautiful islands to the deep blue sea, the cinematics brighten the game and bring the experience of a movie and a game into one heart-pounding thrill-ride, captivating some of the key moments in the game into eye-gougingly beautiful footage.

The characters have also suffered a great deal of intricacy in their appearance to truly give a feel of importance and meaning to the player and to Tidus.

And finally, the soundtrack. Just like the end of every performance in theatre, we give a hand to the orchestra and the orchestrated pieces in Final Fantasy X are worthy of both hands (Assuming you're not using them to type reviews for dooyoo) The soundtrack is marvellously fitting to the game. From the intense battle scenes to the typical victory theme, everything seems perfectly placed to give the ultimate experience. You take one step into each temple and your senses are embraced with visual details and the most enchanting music. So I suggest buying the soundtrack also!

Final Fantasy X can not be justifiably put in short. The game takes roleplay-gaming to a new level, bringing personality and depth to the world of 'Spira' that games such as Oblivion, Fallout 3 and others that cry out a realistic world cannot match. The music, graphics and gameplay are work harmoniously to give the perfect feeling of a completely different culture that I have yet to see in any other game.

The story is outstanding and gripping. Being the first in the Final Fantasy games to stem a part 2 (Though this does cause controversy as it is far less superior but contains some reminiscant moments.) You will find yourself sitting on the edge of your seat as you clock up hours upon hours of gameplay with replayability that spans for a near-infinate timescale. From Chocobo rides to Blitzball games Final Fantasy X leaves you wanting more of the rich culture of Spira. Which reminds me, Blitzball. If you have enjoyed Fifa or whatever they call these football games, Square Enix has managed to encompass their entire content as purely a minigame in the great blitzball games. It features a mix of water-polo, football and rugby to create a complex yet entertaining minigame that cannot be missed.

Final Fantasy X is deep and rich in content. I myself have clocked up over 300 hours of gameplay since I bought the game around five years ago. You will find yourself deeply intrigued with the inhabitants of Spira, from the fiends (The monsters you encounter) to the teachings of Yevon, to whom everyone follows and even to the Al-Bhed, the foreign, underdog people (To whom still use the Machina from the wars) that have a completely speakable language of their own for all of us to marvel and attempt during those harsh, lonely Saturday nights.

The story contains deep sub-plots that the player can pursue as they feel and more twists (In the plot) than Hank Ballard and Chubby Checker combined. Follow the heartfelt 'story' of Tidus and his journey through Spira as you do the same.

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Product Details

As it's predecessors / Final Fantasy 10 was developed and published by Square. Its the first Final Fantasy game to be released for the PlayStation 2 / and is of the role-playing / adventure type formula. Final Fantasy 10 is expected around the first quarter of 2002.